I know that we all have had those moments when we just cry out to God begging Him to talk to us, in a clear audible way...And I have heard people and pastors alike say that God just doesn't speak to us in the way He did in the bible. God speaks in many ways; the bible, prayer, still moments, dreams, circumstance, nature, and music. I will cover all of these both from a biblical and an honest examination of our lives today. Have you ever just wanted to talk to your heavenly daddy, curl up in His lap and have Him hold you, kiss your forehead, and tell you everything is going to be alright.......I have.
Now the typical answer we get, the bible. I'm not making light, this is God's word given to us through the Holy Spirit. We will discuss how we can hear God in His word, however this is the answer we get from church, from elders or deacons, and pastors. And if your like me, this is a great source of hearing God, but there are times when I just need more, or something different. Those are areas we will see, but first lets see how we can hear from reading the bible. The book of Joshua says, " Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed." (1:8)
We are to "meditate", on it. Well to meditate, you do......what.....you dwell on it, you think about it, you break it apart in your mind, asking questions, applying it to you, your life or situation. You meditate. To meditate, I can lay on my bed in the dark, and close my eyes, I can have relaxing music play in the background, I can visualize what I have read and make it real in my minds eye, right....get the picture. Scripture also states, "not to lean on our own understanding but in everything acknowledge Him, and He will direct our path." As we read his words and meditate on them, they come alive to us, and can feel peace in the application to our lives. As we bring Him into every decision of our lives He will guide us, by opening and closing doors and giving clear direction.
Another way God speaks to us is through prayer. God had conversations with Adam, the first man, and with Moses, and Abraham, and angels spoke to Daniel. Jesus after his resurrection talked with the disciples and with Mary, and Paul, on the road to Damascus. Jesus spoke to his father early in the morning in prayer. The prayer wasn't just a casual prayer either. The night he was arrested he took his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane, and he prayed and prayed crying out to his father that the events that were going to unfold that will lead to his death on the cross could be spared of him. I don't know about you but there are times when I pray that my mind wanders and I loose focus, and forget what I am saying...anyone else been there???? Even the disciples are guilty of this even on that night. Jesus would pray and then notice that the disciples were asleep, and he would yell at them, "can't you stay awake just a little while and pray with me?" Now as for the prayer that Jesus prayed, scripture states that he prayed with anguish and so intently that he sweat blood. (This is a medical condition in which a person is anguished that the blood capillaries burst and they bleed through the sweat clans). The only other place where I have found this condition to exist is with the Jews in the concentration camps of WWII. Now I would gather that Jesus heard from his father through prayer. I think the problem that we often have is that we pray for a period of thirty seconds to five minutes a day, and sometimes not at all for days or weeks or months, and expect to hear something from God. And when we do pray we are quickly praying on and off we go, with no focus or attention or real interest in God at all, and think we did our spiritual service....really....really!? Think about it, if we gave that amount of communication to our spouse, how long would our marriages last? hummmmmmm? I think not very long. But when we search out our spouses like that of Jesus seeking his father in prayer, we find even when our spouses don't say a word, we know what they are thinking. Would it be any less true with God? If we pursue him in prayer the same way Jesus did, then even if He didn't say anything we would just know what He was thinking.
We can hear God speak to us in the, "still small voice," Now the best example in scripture is When Samuel went as a boy to study at the Temple (1 Samuel chtr 3). Now it states in vr 1 that it was very rare to receive messages from God and visions were uncommon. Hum, sounds like today. If you remember the story the Priest Eli was training Samuel, and in the middle of night Samuel would hear a still small voice saying, "Samuel...." In vr 8 Eli realized that it was the Lord that was talking to Samuel, and he told Samuel to go and lay down and when he heard the voice again to answer saying, "Yes Lord, your servant is listening." WOW!!!! I want to bring to your attention that Samuel was just a boy, a picture of God speaking to a child. I want to bring out as well that God choose to talk at a time when we are the most still, and able to listen. How many times do you wake up in the middle of the night? I know that I have done that for years, and it always frustrated me, because all I could think of was how tired I was. Be honest, come on. Until one day when a great spiritual mentor said to me, that maybe God woke me up, hum something to think about. A lot of us think of the night as something to fear.....(movies I think), even in scripture we see a comparison of the children of light and children of darkness. But, wasn't it Jesus that awoke before dawn, to go and talk to his father. So the next time you wake in the middle of the night, before you turn over, go to the restroom, get a drink, maybe just maybe you should be still and listen for the still small voice.
I've been asked different times to try and explain someones dreams, or have been asked the question, "does God speak to us in dreams today?" Well the best that I can find is that spoke in dreams. We see it with Joseph, with Daniel, Phillip, and I'm sure more. But look at what scripture states in Acts 2:17, "In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams..." So the next time you dream you might want to write it down.....maybe God is speaking to you.
God can speak to us in circumstances, in scripture God used a donkey among other things to speak to us. I know that God has used the situation or trial or my own journey to speak to me, I just had to be willing to listen, and look for it.
I love When God said, even the rocks will cry out and praise me.....God doesn't need us, we need him. That passage to me brings light to the fact that in nature we can hear God speak to us. Sometimes I get alone, and walk a trail, or hit the mountain. Get with nature, and in the midst of God's creation I close my eyes and listen....
Now music, the bible says that when God was happy with Israel, He sang over them. One thing you may not be aware of is that the prophets of God were musicians, thats right. Scripture states that when they prophesied, they did it to music. From my own experience, I am not as close to God but when its just me God and the piano....I connect and feel closer to God then more than any other time.
There is more that I could talk about, but I hope this sheds some light on different ways God speaks to us, and we can hear him, even today.......so you have no excuse not to listen.
